By:  | April 10, 2022 12:37 pm

The Korean Zombie had to wait nine years for his second featherweight title shot but it took Alexander Volkanovski a matter of seconds to establish his dominance in the UFC 273 headliner. The champion started strongly and remained in complete control throughout the contest.

Volkanovski had a noticeable advantage in terms of both power and speed. Chan Sung Jung never took a backwards step but constantly found himself walking into hard left hooks and straight right hands. His face was a mess by the end of the opening round and the champion really stepped up the pace in the third.

He dropped Jung with a left hook-straight right combination and then followed up with a prolonged ground and pound onslaught. The Korean Zombie’s face bore the brunt of the damage and there seemed to be some question as to whether he would be allowed to come out for the fourth round.

Sustained beating

The referee had obviously seen enough and when Volkanovski landed two straight right hands to the chin he decided he had seen enough. There was no protest from the Korean who was still on his feet but had taken a sustained beating.

With the win Volkanovski improves to 24-1 while Jung drops to 17-7. The Australian is at the absolute pinnacle of the sport and could be considered the best featherweight of all time while the Korean looks unlikely to ever realize his UFC title dreams.

Best of the rest

Aljamain Sterling (21-3) and Petr Yan (16-3) went the distance in their bantamweight unification bout. The American dominated the second and third rounds while the Russian appeared to edge the other two but it was the former who got the nod courtesy of a split decision.

Khamzat Chimaev (11-0) and Gilbert Burns (20-5) went to war in the fight of the night. The Brazilian had his moments and both men were bruised and bleeding by the end but it was the undefeated Swedish star who took the split decision win.

UFC 273, Jacksonville, April 10th
Alexander Volkanovski def. Chan Sung Jung via TKO (Punches) at 0:45 of R4
Aljamain Sterling def. Petr Yan via Decision (Split)
Khamzat Chimaev def. Gilbert Burns via Decision (Unanimous)
Mackenzie Dern def. Tecia Torres via Decision (Split)
Mark Madsen def. Vinc Pichel via Decision (Unanimous)
Ian Garry def. Darian Weeks via Decision (Unanimous)
Anthony Hernandez def. Josh Fremd via Decision (Unanimous)
Raquel Pennington def. Aspen Ladd via Decision (Unanimous)
Mike Malott def. Mickey Gall via TKO (Punches) at 3:41 of R1
Aleksei Oleinik def. Jared Vanderaa via Submission (neck crank) at 3:39 of R1
Piera Rodriguez def. Kay Hansen via Decision (Unanimous)
Julio Arce def. Daniel Santos via Decision (Unanimous)